Remembering
by krazee-kantan
Summary: What does one do for the sake of friendship? Will we remember the painful past in hopes of rekindling a bond thought gone? Sasu/Naru, Gaa/Neji
1. Prologue

A/N: Ok. Terrible timing for starting a new story since my other ones haven't been updated in a while. Well, whatevs~ I'll update when I can, I just don't want to force myself to write something for the sake of writing rather than to actually show something that's pretty decent since it was given a lot of thought. So to any of the readers of my other stories, don't worry! i'm updating soon. Y'all know the situation with New Sight, and for the other one, it's coming, it's coming. Anywho, to this story..

This idea has been stewing in my mind for quite some time now. Please forgive the shortness of it as it's merely a prologue, think of it as a tiny little teaser. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Naruto, or any of the workings of Masashi Kishimoto are definitely not mine, and are the property of the manga-ka that developed them.

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I will never forget my early childhood. It was the happiest time of my life, and the part of my life that I treasured the most. When I think about it, it wasn't the environment but rather, the person in my childhood of which I treasured the most. My best friend. Sasuke.

I still remember the way his dark hair always got into his equally dark eyes. He would try to keep them away by running his hand through it, and I would always laugh at his futile attempts. He would pretend to get mad, but then I would see how he would smile afterwards. His smile. I think no one in the world can even compare to Sasuke's smile. It's the greatest thing in the world!

Heh. The way I go about Sasuke, people would probably think that I'm in love with him. Well, I'm not. I love him very much, but let me assure you that it's as far from romantic as possible. We both had families that loved us to death, but he was my only friend. We were rivals, and buddies, and brothers. We both have brothers of our own, but we liked to think that we were brothers too cause that way, we can't ever be separated. But now we are though. We've been separated for more than ten years, actually.

He broke his promise, and while I know I shouldn't blame him, I can't help but resent the fact that he left. After all, it's after he left that all the bad shit in my life happened to me. It just so happened that him leaving turned out to be the first. I loved Sasuke. He was my brother in all ways. Save for blood. But now, I hate him. I hate what he represents. I hate that he left me to handle all the bad things alone; because that's what I am now: alone.

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When I try to think of what my childhood was like, my mind would become like a black void. Nothing. It's as if someone went to my memory banks and decided to steal every single thing inside it. The only thing that comes to mind when I try to remember something is that my name is Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke.

But then again, I guess that's what amnesia does to you. Sometimes, I get random sparks here and there. Most of the time, it's of my brother's face, or a flash of gold, or a twinkle of blue. Sometimes, I can hear it too. Laughter. It's the nicest sound in the world. Clear bells that make you want to break out into a smile and laugh along. I don't know who owns this laugh. I don't think I ever will.

After the accident, everything changed. That was eight years ago. I'm not confused about who I am anymore, and I've never asked questions about my past. All I know is that we moved here to London from Japan more than ten years ago. Whatever life I lived in Japan is gone now, and I don't spend my time trying to bother to remember anything from that time either. I was only a child then, barely five, I doubt there was anything there of real significance to me anyways.

We are going back to Japan in two weeks. I now feel thankful that my aniki had decided that learning Japanese would be beneficial to me. I'm not concerned about what is going to happen once I arrive, and to tell the truth, I don't care much for moving either. I'm comfortable here in London, but there are too many bad memories. Am I excited? No. After all, I doubt there is anyone waiting for me over there in Japan... I will just be another face in a vast sea of people, and that, if anything, is more sad than exciting.

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A sneak peek, yeah? Tell me what you guys think....


	2. Chapter 1

First official chapter. Please R&R.

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It was early in the morning, and dawn was just about to break. Through the partly curtained windows of a simple bedroom, the soft light of the morning broke through, lightly illuminating everything in its path. The bed in the middle of the room, a bundle of orange and black comforters and pillows framed the unconscious figure haphazardly. The bright mop of gold hair in the midst of the bedding and the soft, even breathing that came from within it was the only indication of human life in the otherwise silent room. It was a peaceful morning and the person inhabiting the bed was blissfully unaware of the events that were soon to unfold throughout the day, be they good or bad, so deep into his dreams was he that nothing, absolutely nothing, would be able to wake him up and ruin his lovely fantasy.

*RIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGGGG* The peace of the morning had shattered within the split second that the battered silver alarm clock rang. A tired groan replaced the even breathing of the blond mass within the blankets and a tanned hand managed to worm through the comforting warmth of the makeshift cocoon, successfully deactivating the wretched contraption and stopping the horridly shrill ringing that it emitted. Another tired groan, and more of the blond mass came out of the cocoon in a slow and reluctant fashion.

The tanned and slightly muscled form of the youth tumbled out of the bed, stretching out his form, trying to get out the remaining traces of sleep out of his system. He ran a hand through his golden locks, making it look even messier than it had been before, with random strands sticking out in awkward angles and the entire left side flattened to his head in a strange manner. He slowly manoeuvred himself to his bathroom, where he proceeded to wash off the last remnants of his night with a quick shower, immediately going through his morning routine without conscious thought, his mind still in the process of starting up. He brushed his teeth with a bright orange toothbrush, and tried to comb his still-wet hair in a semi-presentable manner. Barely aware of what he was doing, he had dressed himself up in the standard school uniform, albeit sloppily, with the white polo buttoned the wrong way, the black and grey striped tie messily put on. Thankfully, his black trousers and jacket were not wrinkled too badly, and his sneakers were not too dirty.

Fixing his bed and grabbing his bag, he left his bedroom, heading towards the kitchen where he immediately went to the cupboard and grabbed a few packs of cup ramen. Going back to routine, he unwrapped each one alternating between pouring hot water and placing them in the microwave. Two minutes of waiting and five minutes of eating later, he was done with his breakfast, everything being polished off with a glass of milk. A quick cleanup in the kitchen, he put on his jacket and grabbed his bag. One last thing before leaving and he was done: he went back to the bedroom where he proceeded to give each photograph on his desk a kiss, he grabbed his keys, and left the house, locking the door behind him. Another day of school was about to begin and Naruto Uzumaki was more than ready to greet it.

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The sun was about to rise, and the light on his desktop was still glaring harshly on the pages of a book whose pages were still upturned. He didn't get much sleep again as always, his dreams proving to be too much of a threat to his already frail state of mind. Realizing that he still had much time on his hands, he grabbed a towel and headed for the bathroom. A quick shower, a brush of the teeth, and he was back in his room. He began to get dressed in the standard uniform, with a plain white polo and black pants, he hung his tie haphazardly round his neck. One hour. He groaned in slight irritation at his insomnia. He placed his black headphones on his head and shuffled his music player to play some rock. Hopefully, this will manage to keep him somewhat awake as he fought off the sleep that now decided to creep into his system. He glanced at the calendar on the wall and realized that the date today held an important significance to him. It commemorated the day in which he saw his light. To be more precise, it was the day he had _met_ his light.

A rare smile graced the otherwise blank features of the pale face. He would never forget that day. He had started to live that day, and it was all thanks to _him_...

***flashback***

_Sadness and anger coursed through him as he violently pushed the sand around him in all directions. He had run to the playground, straight to the sa__ndbox that day after hearing yet another of his father's angry rants. Normally, he would ignore it, as he would everything else his father said, more than used to the routine abuse given to him, both verbal and physical. This time though, it wasn't only his father. He overheard his uncle's voice answering back to every complaint given out, not objecting, but rather, encouraging the rage to grow. It sent a cold chill running down his spine, to hear the voice of the only person who supposedly loved him, turn against him. It seemed he had seen through the mask, and no matter how much he tried to get used to being the subject of hatred within his family and their community, he was still only a child, barely six, and the tears of skewed innocence within him trailed down his face, sending drops down unto the sand of which he played with. It really was unfair. Too unfair..._

_From his jade orbs coursed bitter tears, blurring his vision, hiding away the blonde flash of hair that came near him. He felt warm hands then. They caressed his tear-streaked face, softly wiping away remnants of his crying, and gently, ever so gently, those soft hands went from his face, to wrap around his small frame, enveloping him in a tight hug, while he sat there, frozen, unable to comprehend that this blonde-haired something was actually touching him. Touching him and yet, no pain registered in his mind. It was... nice._

_Slowly, he returned the hug, cautious, as though waiting for the poisonous words to reach his ears, or the hard blows that hurt him emotionally more than anything._ **_Freak! MONSTER! You fucking demon spawn! DIE! DIE! DIE!!_**

_Again, the tears fell, and unlike the silent streaming of saltine water from before, this time his whole body was wracked with heartbroken sobs, and he cried harder still, burying his face into the chest of the blonde. He held on tighter, and received the same gesture in turn. Throughout his crying, soft words of comfort were whispered to him as the blonde himself, shed tears silently from his sapphire orbs. Here, he found a brother, the same pain, the same hurt, shared within their hearts._

***end flashback***

He shook his head at the memory. After the incident, he tried to get away from the blonde; from Naruto, yet the other persisted, not letting him out of his sight, always forcing himself upon him. He was afraid of trusting yet another person, only to receive more pain. Naruto took all of his spiteful jabs, all of his painful punches, his scathing glares, and never once did he complain, but come back the next day, face occasionally still fresh with bruises but with a happy grin nonetheless. He persisted, and slowly, he caved and gave in. He was never happier to have admitted defeat than that time. He glanced at his kept bed, his teddy bear, worn from years of use, a gift from Naruto, still lay in the middle, a symbol of his defeat. Gaara glanced at the clock to see that he had only five minutes before he had to leave to pick up Naruto. Shaking his choppy red locks out of his face, and quickly applying kohl around his jade-green eyes while facing the small mirror on his desk, he grabbed his backpack and school jacket and toed in his worn shoes before quickly walking out of the house. He did not bother locking it, knowing his siblings were still inside, and without bothering to look back, set into a relaxed pace as he walked to meet Naruto.

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So there you have it~ please tell me what you guys think.


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